Army may wrest BSF turf

Indianmandarins has learnt that a proposal to reduce presence of BSF personnel on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and deploy them along the International Border (IB) in Punjab and Jammu regions is being deliberated in the higher echelons of security establishment. Not unexpectedly, the proposal has invited strong dissent from senior BSF officers who see in the move a design to lower their importance versus the Army.
The National Security Council is said to be evaluating whether all 12 BSF battalions can be removed from LoC and deployed as the ‘second tier’ of defence, behind existing BSF positions, along IB which witnessed in recent months incidents of terrorists crossing over the border to attack vital military, police and civilian establishments in Jammu and Punjab.
Officials said a proposal to de-induct at least four out of the dozen-odd battalions of Border Security Force (BSF) from LoC has already been sent to the Union Home Ministry and a note for taking a final decision in this regard by the Cabinet Committee on Security may be prepared soon after deliberations with the Ministry of Defence and army.